Grow our Greenbelt Blog

Sierra Club Ontario members oppose proposed urban expansions in Niagara

Proposals have been put forward to urbanize vast swaths of land via the Niagara Region’s new Official Plan. Planned urban expansions threaten Canada’s most biologically diverse Carolinian zone.  These expansions would impinge on land currently restricted for rural purposes, including habitats for many endangered and declining species.

Two members of Sierra Club Ontario (Dr. John Bacher and Danny Beaton) recently spoke to oppose planned urban expansions to the Niagara region. Click to see their full presentations. 

Greenbelt: Celebrating Greenbelt Expansion in the Niagara Region

Despite enormous pressures from developers and municipalities in the Niagara Region, the provincial government denied all requests to shrink and dilute the Greenbelt. This was done in two locations. One was in Grimsby south of the Niagara Escarpment, in an area that is increasingly being used for tree fruit and grape crops. Another is in a corridor from Lake Ontario to Lake Gibson, along the Twelve Mile Creek. 

Province Proposes to Rescue Huronia Through Greenbelt Expansion

"Protecting Water for Future Generations" warns that increased storm water discharges created by urbanization "adds sediment to streams that can negatively impact fish and other aquatic species" and also "increase water temperature, affecting the survival of fish species such as brook trout that need cold water". It stresses that Brook Trout will not survive in warmer water created through the ecological degradation associated with urbanization.

Expanding Ontario's Greenbelt into Simcoe County: Defending the Peacemaker's World

"The Peacemaker's World can only be protected by the direct action of the Ontario government putting rural lands in Simcoe into Ontario's Greenbelt, which would protect such natural wonders as the Minesing Wetlands...Rather than being seen as a controversial hot potato to be tossed around and evaded, the province needs to make a bold move that would win it plaudits from a public prone to cynicism."


Sierra Club Celebrates Ontario’s Greenbelt with cake, soup, and a hike in Niagara’s Carolinian old growth forest

The Celebration

On the afternoon of October 28th, on St. Catharine’s' Lockhart Drive in a threatened Carolinian Old Growth Forest north of the Niagara Escarpment, the Sierra Club celebrated a major environmental victory. This was the extension of Ontario's Greenbelt to 21 major urban river corridors from Northumberald to Niagara. In Niagara, this involved the protection of Lake Gibson - a reservoir for most of the drinking water for Niagara's residents.

The struggle to protect Ontario's Great Wetlands show a need to restore provincial appointments to Conservation Authority Boards

"Conservation Authorities since 1946 have played a major role in protecting Ontario’s landscape from deforestation and consequently, rescuing the province from the blights of desertification and flooding... Since changes in 1996 which made municipal councils responsible for the appointment of conservation authority boards, they have been weakened to the threats caused by urban sprawl over critical wildlife habitat."